Game



M. l. HUSTED Nov. 7, 1933.

GAME

Filed NOV. 11, 1930 Fatented Nov. '7, 1933 STATES GAMEI I Mary Irving Husted, Cambridge, Mass.

Application November 11, 1930 Serial No. 494,960

4 Claims. (01. 273-14) My invention relates to games of skill and more particularly to indoor games of this type that may conveniently be played on a table by any number of players.

The objectv of my invention is to provide a game combining the hazards of golf with the skill of billiards that may be founded fundamentally on the rules of croquet.

To the accomplishment of this object I place within the playing field, represented by a table which shouldnot be smaller than 30 x inches, a plurality of corner hazards and a central hazard or trap all of which must be negotiated in a predetermined sequence by a rolling ball propelled by eithera mallet stroke or a cue stroke. Finally the ball is homed in a specially located goal. As a ball-drive I provide an implement having the general form of a croquet mallet with a handle or stick sufiiciently long and blunted so that it may be used as a cue to propel the ball by a stroke from its unheaded end.

My invention comprises not only the indoor game as a whole but also includesthe, novel form and construction of the hazards and the balldriver all as hereinafter described and then particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The best forms of my hazards and their relative positions on the table or other playing field areillustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a playing field, in plan, with tracer linesindicating the course of a ball in negotiating or passing the various hazards.

Fig. 2 shows, in elevation, a detail of the preferred manner of holding aboundary tape at a table edge. v

Fig. 3 is a view, in perspective, of my novel central trap, the dash lines thereon indicating the geometricalrelation of its two overlapping, annular passages.

Fig. 4 is a view, in plan, of my combination mallet-cue for propelling the ball.

Fig. dis a view, in. perspective, of one of my corner hazards.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated by the drawing, 10' indicates the top ,of a table having a felt cover 12 held in position by a num ber of ordinary c-clamps 14. The C-clamps may be four in number placed one near each corner of the table, because in this location -they conveniently serve as posts or supports about which a tape 15, functioning as a boundary wall, may be drawn taut and buckled as at 16. The playing fieldthus is the area within the tape.

The playing field is provided with several hazards through which the ball must be driven in sequence before being finally goaled in 'a home plate. I preferably provide four corner hazards 20 each consisting of anarch-board 22 having three arches cut therethrough, the centralarch being larger than its two flanking arches. .Each 60 face board 22 is supported in upright position by a pair of wings 23 extending rearwardly therefrom. These wings 23 are of importance as inand-the side-arches 1 inch wide. The central arches are lettered from A to D and the side arches from 1 to 8 as indicated on Fig. 1.

I also provide 'a special hazard or trap 24 which 7 I place centrally of the playing field. This trap comprises two members each having a concave portion cooperating with the corresponding concave portion of the other to define an indirect passage for the rolling ball, and in the illustrated 1 preferred form comprises two crescent, U or C-shaped plates 26 each having concentric circular outer and inner edges and each being somewhat substantially longer than a, semi-circle. One end of each C-plate has an end 28 which is 8 squared on a diameter of the circles which form the circular edges, and one end 30 which iscurved at-its outer side, see 32, Fig. 3, forming what I term a hooked end. To form'the trap 24 from these two plates they are interlocked with their two hooked ends 30 opposed and overlapping (see Fig. 3), then the edges of the squared ends 28 are made to coincide with a straight (dot and dash) line drawn through the centers of the two overlapping (dotted) circles of which the outer edges of the plates 26 form a part, and finally theplates are located longitudinally on this center line so that the curved outer edge 32 of each hooked end is substantially concentric with the concaved or marble, I make the central arch 1 inches wide X inner circular edge of the oppositely disposed plate 26. Thus arranged, the plates define a substantially S-ehaped passage extending between them; The two C-plates may be secured together in this S-shaped relation by two arched braces 34.

The two openings 36, which I make about 1 1 inches wide for playing with a marble, form an entrance from each side to the central space 38. I designate this hazard a trap because I have so designed the C-plates that a ball cannot be up driven into one entrance 38 and out of the other by a single stroke. As already stated each C-plate is somewhat longer than a semicircle and this extra length has been added at the hooked ends 30. There is thus provided a curve, at the inner edge of each hooked end, which at its terminus at the hooked end is tangent to a radius of the circle on which the inner edge of the opposite G-plate has been struck (indicated by the dotted arrows on Fig. 3) so that a ball being guided by either inner edge will tend to receive a spin through its contact with this concave edge, and then on leaving the end thereof strike the opposed inner edge squarely, lose its momentum and become entrapped, or, if it retains 'suflicient momentum to rebound to any extent, the spin imparted as aforesaid, clockwise in the present instance, will tend to make it rebound into the central space 38 insteadof progressing. Much skill is required to escape from the trap 24, especially so when the balls of two or more players are entrapped at the same time. v

After successfully passing the hazards, following the rules hereinafter detailed or others as may be desired, the ball is goaled or lodged in the nest 40 formed in a home plate 42 (Fig. 1). This is made difficult by shaping the nest 40 as a circle, the plate being squared on a chord of said circle which sub-tends an arc thereof .of only 45 to 5 0 degrees. For playing with a marble the length of the chord on which the circle is cutaway, to form an entrance for the ball, is about 1 inches. The home plate may be placed on any convenient part of the playing field, but preferably behind or out of line with the final exit of the ball from the trap 24. Additional hazards of the same or different characters may be used in connection with those described, if desired.

A combination mallet-cue (Fig. 4) is used to drive the ball about the field of play. The ball may be struck with the head 44, as in croquet, or with the side of the head, or the elongated handle 46 may be used as a billiard cue, its free end being flattened at 48 to facilitate its use in this way, making possible the playing of masse and draw shots, as well as the usual straight cue-shots of billiards and pool, such use of the mallet-cue giving greater accuracy and control of the ball than is attainable through use of the mallethead.

These rules may be used: Start from the dot 50 (Fig. 1) and drive the ball (as indicated by the dotted lines) through arch 1, back through arch 2; through arch 3, back through arch 4; through arch 5, back through arch 6; through arch '7, back through arch 8; through trap; then (as indicated by the dash lines) through arch A, back through arch A; through arch B, back through arch B; through trap; through arch C, back through arch C; through arch D, back through arch D; through trap; and finally into home plate.

Play with either end of the mallet-cue using either croquet or billiard strokes.

Follow rules of croquet (when playing from a marble, marble may be placed a marbles width from one just hit).

Each player is allowed ten touches with another marble. After ten are used the player may hit a marble to drive it away but may not have another play. I

While the object is to reach the home plate first, the excitement of the game lies in handicapping ones opponents. Opponents marbles may be delayed by croqueting them behind the wings of the arch-boards, by knocking them away when they are in position for entering arches, trap, or home plate, and by sending them back when inside the trap. (If one knocks ones own marble or an opponents over the side of the trap the marble knocked over must be played from where it lands around to the opening of the trap through which it formerly entered.) Keep score of touches used.

The player must not bend down enclosing tape when playing. A marble close to the tape may be moved a marbles width from the tape before playing.

It is also contemplated to play the game on other surfaces of greater extent than a table-top, as upon a floor or lawn, with the addition of more hazards on the order of the trap 24 and archboards 20, and combined in use with other forms of hazards as desired, the playing implements being appropriately increased in size and length. The tape which bounds the playing field has a novel function contributing actively to the interest and variety and opportunities for the ex-' ercise of skill afforded by the game. The nature of the material forming the tape is so chosen as to have a considerable degree of elasticity, which may be attained satisfactorily through the use of webbing made wholly of textile fibers. Thus when a ball or marble strikes against the relatively tightly-drawn tape it rebounds or caroms therefrom precisely as from a cushion of a bilhard or pool table. The tape thus serves to inintroduce many or all of the features of the game of billiards into the game, the caroms attainable from the tape being employed to make the game more interesting and difficult, as well as the lesser rebounds to be had from the arch-boards and. center trap and other hazards. The point of the balls impact with the tape determines the extent and direction of the carom or rebound, depending on whether the ball strikes the tape close to one of the supports or clamps therefor, or in the less firmly supported intermediate portion of the tape, thus giving opportunity for further demonstrations of skill in accurately foreseeing the results of such impact. The clamps 14 supporting the boundary tape 15 may be so located with respect to the corners or sides of the playing surface or table as to give the enclosed area any desired shap'eor size within the limits of the surface upon which it is mounted. When the game is to be played on a larger surface such as'a floor or lawn,

the boundary and cushion tape will be mounted on suitable supports engaging with or resting upon the floor or lawn.

If desired, when the game is to be played on the floor or outdoors, a golf club such as aputter may be substituted for the mallet-cue described,

the butter handle of the club being used in accomplishing cue-shots just as is the cue-end of the mallet-cue.

I claim:

1. A trap for use as a hazard in a game to be played with a rolling ball consisting of c shaped plates interlocked in a manner to set a portion of one plate generally central of the concavity in the'other plate thereby to forma tortuous passage between said two plates, and means for securing the plates in this relation to each 'other.

2. A trap for use as a hazard in a game to be played with a rolling ball consisting of 'C-shaped plates with anend of each plate extending within the concavityof the other, and arche'd-means for bridging the passage between the plates thus defined and for maintaining this relative-position of said plates'both in the-same plane.

each being somewhat longer than a semicircle, one end of each of said plates being rounded at its outer edge, to form a hooked end, and said hooked end of each plate being placed within the cavity of another plate, defining an S-shaped passage, and means for securing the plates in this relation to each other and with the concave edge of each hooked end lying tangent to a radius of the circle on which the inner edge of the opposite plate has been struck.

continuously from one end to the other comprising plates each having a circular inner edge and MARY IRVING HUSTED. 

